Online travel service providers Ctrip.com and Yoee.com have both confirmed that from October 17, all their respective air ticket agents will be required to sell e-tickets.

However, those agents will be able to still sell their remaining paper tickets until they are sold out.

Statistics from Ctrip.com show that the company's e-ticket bookings has already accounted for 50% of the total air tickets sold, exceeding the global average rate of 49%.

However, many Chinese travelers feel that e-tickets are still inconvenient because not all of them can be paid online and it is not easy to get an official trip receipt. Shi Jun, director of Ctrip.com Air Ticket Booking, says that Ctrip has now launched an e-payment service for the e-ticket where Ctrip will mail the trip receipt to passengers who need official "fapiao".